Creative INSET : Dancing every day in the classroom - 30 March 2020

Photo credit - Experience it 2015, Pari Naderi

About Siobhan Davies Dance

Founded by award-winning choreographer Siobhan Davies CBE in 1988, Siobhan Davies Dance is an artist-led organisation that advances the art forms of dance and choreography. We create and produce investigative, collaborative, and interdisciplinary artistic activities at our studios and beyond that engage people from all walks of life. Our Learning and Participation programme makes choreography accessible as a way to learn.

We work with schools to enable children to physically experience their curriculum learning alongside developing dance skills and choreographic thinking. We support teachers to embed our accessible creative methodology into their wider everyday teaching practise. In 2017/18 our Experience It primary school projects reached 4,398 children. This work continues in Children’s Creative Dance Classes at our studios as well as sessions for the National Gallery’s Family Programme. Our youth programme includes the Next Choreography course, enabling young people to build their understanding of choreography, and grow the vital skills and confidence required to support a career in the arts. Our Young Artists’ Collective programme and lead activities relevant to young people.

This one day course will enable teachers to integrate dance effectively within everyday teaching as a tool to engage and motivate pupils and strengthen their curriculum learning.

Teachers will be introduced to an easy to follow, tried and tested inclusive methodology for eliciting pupil’s physical creative responses to a topic, theme or a concept and then structuring these ideas through choreography. Teachers will experience this methodology in practise and its application to different key stages. Through physical activities and discussion teachers will be supported to plan dance activities appropriate to their teaching contexts that enhance and embed pupils’ curriculum learning. Teachers will feel empowered to lead these activities back at their own settings, supported by a take home resource pack.

The day will draw from examples of our work with Charlotte Sharman Primary School, where dance has positively impacted pupil’s learning particularly in language acquisition within literacy, and our Next Choreography course for young people.

Learning outcomes for participants

Knowledge and understanding of using dance within everyday curriculum teaching including

how to plan and facilitate creative, physical movement activities linked to curriculum learning

how to elicit children’s creative responses, empowering and engaging pupils

how to stretch and challenge the complexity and depth of pupils’ creative work and their analytical appreciation skills.

how to compose pupil’s creative work into choreography, and support pupils’ agency within this process.

Suitable for

This event is suitable for teachers and teaching assistants working in London schools, from all disciplines, Key Stages and educational settings, with an interest in creative learning. We regret that this session is not open to colleagues from cultural organisations or freelancers working with schools.